The Glacier’s Shadow
Part I – setting a goal that is aligned with your values is the key to success in everything, including long distance cycling
Mental preparation is the most important aspect of a successful long distance ride. Visualizing the route months in advance will get you to the starting line with body and bike prepared. If nothing else, the time spent planning and training for the ride will pack your goal with a heavy emotional payload, which could be the thing that keeps you rolling when a failing bike or an aching body are signaling you to bail out.
For every rider who makes it to the starting line of an endurance cycling event ride, there may be ten or even 100 who dream of participating but do not believe they are capable of it. Still others, who would like to try, just don’t know where to start.
So what is the best way to prepare for the longest rides? While there are riders who just show up and rock the route, most mortals need to train, and training demands time and effort, which is why even experienced riders who haven’t prepared are just as vulnerable as the beginner.
While it may not be possible to complete every ride we start, our chances are improved if we invest the time to identify a goal that has deep emotional value. This year, randonneurs from all over the world are preparing for the quadrennial Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) Grand Randonnee. If you have ever heard a PBP ancien speak of the ride, then you know just how rich the experience can be. And it is more far reaching than the 1200 kilometers these cyclists will spend on the bike. Riders going to PBP plan their route to the starting line as carefully as the event organizer plans the cue sheet for the brevet; the richer, more rewarding experience is the training, the wrenching, the collaborating and the commiserating leading up to the event.
I won’t be going to Paris this year. As you can imagine, being a member of the country’s largest randonneuring community (Seattle International Randonneurs), and opting-out of PBP, was something I have constantly had to explain, not just to my comrades, but to myself. I chose the Portland-to-Glacier 1000K as the primary goal of my 2007 season. While many Paris-bound riders viewed “the Glacier” as a PBP training ride, to me, it was an experience that defined my year. The thought of it motivated me to get out of bed on the coldest winter mornings to ride.
Montana has been on my list of places I need to see before I die since I read about it in Backpacker Magazine in the late 1970s. From the moment the Oregon Randonneurs announced the club would host a 1000 kilometer brevet starting in Portland and ending in White Fish, my commitment to the ride was unwavering. The only question that I could not so easily answer was,”Would I also ride in PBP?”
Here in the Pacific Northwest, PBP has been the focal point of the year. It is hard not to at least consider making the trip to France. But the mental images I held of riding there in August with 3,000 other cyclists did not capture my imagination the way the ride to Glacier National Park did. Much of this stems from a spiritual connection I feel to this region.
The main attraction of PBP for me was the idea of riding through rural France with my friends from the Oregon and Washington clubs. I read the brochures and I watched the videos and I attended informational seminars that featured riders who told colorful stories about PBP. Still not ready to commit one way or the other, I penciled it into my calendar. I decided to ride the four qualifying brevets and leave the option open as long as possible.
Finding the balance between my goals on the bike and the other priorities of life is important to me. In the Randonneurs Handbook, Bill Bryant warns riders who are new to brevets about the opportunity cost of being a successful endurance cyclist. Spending weekend after weekend on the road training and riding permanents and brevets is bound to impact other aspects of one’s life including relationships, the condition of one’s home, personal finances, and career. I often wonder how randonneurs keep it all in together.
Preparing for a 1000K or 1200K certainly tested my limits. I began training for the Glacier on December 31, 2006. For the next six months, I was up before 5am on weekdays, riding or lifting at the gym. Saturdays were spent doing long rides, usually alone, in the farmlands and foot hills of the Willamette Valley. As the time spent training increased to as many as 20 hours a week, it seemed I had just enough time in a day to eat, ride, work, and sleep. Chores around the house went undone. Mail piled up on my desk at home unopened.
I began evaluating PBP in terms of the time required to continuing training at this level through the end of August, and the sacrifices that would be asked of my wife. She didn’t make my decision any easier; she encouraged me to go to Paris, even if our bank account couldn’t support the trip for her. It is moments like these that define a marriage; it helps to explain why I have been with this woman for 25 years. It may also explain why the idea of visiting France for the first time without her wasn’t even on the table for discussion. Nor was the option of putting any portion of the trip on the credit card, possibly a sign that I have read too much Suzie Orman for my own good.
By mid-march, the brevet season was under way in Oregon. I rode the 100K populaire almost 30-minutes faster than I rode it in 2006. My times in the 200, 300, 400 and 600 brevets were hours faster than a year earlier. The weight lifting and interval training played a big role in that. Just as important were the riders I connected with and rode along side during the Series. I called them the Pass Hunters after the blog published by Jon Beilby.
The Pass Hunters lifted my riding. Staying with them meant I had to maintain rolling speeds of 18 mph or more, rather than the 15 mph I strived for during the 2006 season. Despite the training, I did not make this leap without feeling some pain. But the elation I felt at the end of each ride inspired me to practice with even greater intensity so that I could stay with these riders on the next, longer brevet.
Although none of them knew it, completing the Super Randonneur Series with the Pass Hunters helped me make a decision about PBP. During those moments when my legs ached as I fought to stay with them on the flats; during those hours long after dark, when I wanted to get off the bike, lay down by the side of the road and sleep, the image I held in my mind was not of Paris, France; it was the snow-capped peaks of the Glacier National Park, and of my beautiful wife, waiting there for me.
I am certain that one day I will ride PBP. Its importance has already increased for me, now that the Glacier is done. But, as Ken Bonner advised in a 2006 issue of Ultracycling Magazine, we must ride every brevet as if it was our last. If it turned out that the Glacier was, indeed, my last brevet, then I can leave this sport knowing I have no unfinished business on the bicycle, and the rest of my life is still intact.
Miss an installment of The Glacier’s Shadow? Click here to read the Introduction, Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V
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9 Responses to
“Why I am not riding Paris-Brest-Paris”
riddenwords
July 27th, 2007 at 11:30 pmWow. Very well written and very personal post. I enjoyed reading it a lot. I’ll be back for more…
GIno
July 28th, 2007 at 5:27 pmWhat an awesome post, man. Nearly choked me up there at the end. Thanks for providing such good and inspirational reading.
Sam Huffman
July 28th, 2007 at 10:43 pmNicely written. I’d planned to ride PBP, but also decided that PDX-GNP would be my big ride for the year.
I was less worried about the time commitment for training (seems like most of us spend enough time riding for fun that the “training” comes for free!), than the time commitment for dealing with travel arrangements, bike transport, and other associated logistics.
I don’t really regret the decision at all. I was really pleased to have the 1000K option available, particularly so easily accessible and with such a scenic destination.
Amy Pieper
July 30th, 2007 at 8:28 amThanks for the heartfelt and insightful post David. After riding PBP in 2003 I vowed “never again” but the desire did return – unfortunately without the motivation. I am happy with my decision to forgo riding PBP this year but will have the pleasure of attending to watch Robin and all my other randonneuring pals in the event. It was pointed out to me that the 2011 PBP will correspond with my 50th year and that may be enough to spark the motivation along with the desire so perhaps we’ll be on that road together 4 years from now. Until then I hope both have the chance for many more “last brevets”. Amy
Jim Bronson
July 31st, 2007 at 8:07 amI too did the Portland-Glacier ride and I am feeling much less motivated for PBP now. For whatever the reason, I am not sure I was ready to peak twice over the summer. My body feels tired and broken after the 1000K and I am not sure I am ready for a 1200K. I feel like I needed to start over with my training before attempting a 1200.
Also, mentally, I can’t quite put a finger on it but I am just feeling remarkably unmotivated for PBP. But, I have my plane tickets, hotel, et al., in hand so off I go!
Lesli Larson
August 1st, 2007 at 7:14 amThank you for the post. As a rookie randonneur, I was happy to have a 1000k like Glacier to train for in lieu of the more storied and daunting PBP. As it turns out, Glacier was extremely challenging for me and made for an amazing capstone ride for my first cycling season. Like Jim, I’m experiencing some post-ride fatigue which has made the rest of the summer something of a soft pedal.
I’m amazed by all the riders who have managed to sustain their Spring training over the past two months in prep for PBP.
We’ll see how things look when 2011 rolls around.
Lesli
Alberto
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:28 pmI’m definitely an outsider peaking in, but it’s wonderful to see the randonneuring spirit. You capture it so well here and you do it at a such personal level. Congratulations. I don’t know whether I will ever do one single brevet — I’m still at the Century level — but the training and lifestyle are certainly something so deserving of respect. Anyway: “Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”
DrCodfish
August 16th, 2007 at 10:31 amGood say.
Iv’e read this a number of times and have no argument with your words.
I’m just finished packing for PBP and will be flying out later today. In this brief rest time I came back to your post and it caused me to want to leave a thought with you.
Laeading up to this I have had mixed feelings; in the last couple days of packing, repacking, tearing the bike down, trying to get it in the box without damage while still meeting the new weight limitations, along with all the home place disruption this represents I can honestly say that a number of times I have wished I wasn’t going. Just the ‘getting there’ is a big hassle, never mind the months of prep and the enormous cost.
But now that I’m prepped and ready, I’m really getting excited, I’m looking forward to this, can’t wait to ge that “PBP” feelng again.
I made a little presentation to ORR last November, and in my remarks I said that I would never encourage anyone to do this if they really had no interst or desire. But I also said that if you think you might be interested, then I would strongly recommend that you make the effort to get to PBP at least once in your lifetime.
I think David you fall in that category, though you make a good case for why 2007 is not the year. You know the joy of completing a difficult challenge, you know how to prepare, and you have an affinity for LD riding. I encourage you to look at your calendar and write in a date for PBP. It really is a seminal event for LD riders, and I think if you did this you’d get a greater sense of satisfaction from this than you have experienced on some of your other LD conquests.
I don’t know how many more of these I will be able to do, but my glass is only half empty; Looking forward to seeing you at the start in 2011!
PS: I really doubt this will be as good for me as PBP ’03 was nut I have high hopes. You can find my PBP 03 write up on my blog.
Bonne Route!
————–
Thank you, Dr. Codfish, for your thoughtful comments. And thanks so much to everyone who has taken the time to share their thoughts with me about this particular essay.
This has been a somewhat difficult week for me, as so many of my comrades are boarding airplanes bound for France to ride PBP. I was on the fence with this decision until the last possible moment, when the applications were due to RUSA in June. The choice was the right one for me, but it was not an easy one to make peace with. What I have lost is the chance to ride with you and the rest of Americans in Paris. But I have gained just as much from the time I have spent these past six weeks (since riding the Glacier) with my wife and my son. Those experiences are beyond words.
I wish you and all Randonneurs all of the adventure that the grand dame of Grand Randonnees can bring. And I look forward to 2011, when I will be there, riding along side you. In the meantime, if your glass is half empty, fill it up, but make it the red, and say hello to Brest for me.
dr
beth h
August 19th, 2007 at 6:28 pmDavid — I came late to this post — I’ve been busy working on my own little personal ride goal this year and finally have time to catch up with all the other stuff. I want to say that you are an inspiration to me and that I think you made a wisdom-based choice based on all the resources and info (external and internal) you had at hand. Speaking from personal experience, I know how vital a supportive partner/spouse can be to anyone pursuing a dream; and it sounds like you a truly blessed in this regard. I look forward to our next populaire together.
happy riding — beth